Search the Skillings archive
Charles Pitts is the publisher of Skillings Mining Review, the trade journal that has covered mining since 1912. He writes on the macro forces behind metal prices: commodity cycles, sovereign capital and the shifting sources of demand. His current work argues that hyperscale AI, and the gigawatt-scale power its data centres need, is becoming a buyer of lithium and copper in its own right, competing with the automotive supply chain for tier-one reserves.
Copper cathode sheets at an industrial refinery and loading facility. The copper price forecast 2026 is increasingly being shaped by a simple mismatch: demand from grids,…
Aerial view of an integrated copper mining district in northern Chile. Mining M&A deals 2026 are entering a more demanding phase as the proposed Anglo American-Teck…
Liontown Resources has signed a binding farm-in agreement with NEXT Lithium Corp. that gives it a staged pathway to acquire up to 100% of the Centenario…
Pilbara Gold has extended gold mineralisation at depth at its Mt York Gold Project in Western Australia, with hole 26MYDD022 returning 94 metres at 0.88 grams…
Lithium carbonate futures near 150,000 yuan ($22,000–$23,000) a tonne have revived the market’s bullish instincts. The most active Guangzhou Futures Exchange contract recently closed at 152,500…
Komatsu’s commissioning of its 1,000th ultra-class autonomous haul truck marks a transition point for mining technology. Autonomous haulage is no longer primarily a pilot program for…
Tailings governance is becoming a core test of mining project readiness. Mining ESG compliance is moving from annual-report language into the critical path for mine approvals,…
Rare-earth processing and metallization facilities are becoming strategic assets as companies seek greater control over the mine-to-magnet chain. The critical-minerals supply chain is moving beyond a…
The Dos Amigos project sits in Chile’s Atacama Region, between La Serena and Vallenar. Sumitomo Corporation and the G Mining Group have taken a combined 25%…
Rare-earth processing equipment representing the oxide-to-metal stage of an integrated supply chain. Energy Fuels Inc. has completed its acquisition of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd. (ASM), adding…
Our newsletters on critical minerals, policy and the week’s deals, free through LinkedIn or by email.
